Andy Dalton vs Rex Ryan will decide Bengals vs Jets matchup

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton has been playing lights-out over the past two weeks, and the best game of his young career may have been in last Sunday’s 27-24 victory over the Detroit Lions.

Dalton completed 24/34 passes for 372 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 135.9 in leading the Bengals to their second consecutive road win.

He’ll face a tough test this week going against a Rex Ryan-coached New York Jets defense. Ryan has routinely made some of the game’s best QBs look like someone the Jacksonville Jaguars would start, and with their stout run defense, the game will likely rest on the shoulders of Dalton and how well he can get the ball into his playmaker’s hands.

But the Bengals have yet to defeat the Jets since Rex Ryan took over, and Dalton’s predecessor, Carson Palmer, had some of the worst games of his career vs Ryan’s defense. In three career games vs Ryan and his Jets, Palmer completed 38/82 passes for 311 yards with two touchdowns vs three interceptions. Three games and barely 300 yards passing shows how dominant Ryan and his defense can be.